American Muslims and Obama

According to an American survey, about 90 percent of American Muslims are expected to vote for Barack Obama on November 4. But strangely the Muslim organisation that carried out this survey doesn’t want the fact publicised widely because “it might hurt rather than help Mr Obama’s bid for the White House”. This is because a part of America thinks that Mr Obama is a Muslim — which he is not — and may favour policies that might make America vulnerable to Muslim terrorism. But a majority of the population clearly wants a changeover from the “neo-con” model of governance that has hurt the national economy. Even the Republicans want to make this change. But fear of terrorism reigns in the American mind and that might hurt Mr Obama.

The American Muslims have adopted the right stance. According to Mr Agha Saeed of the American Muslim Taskforce on Universal Rights and Elections, “Our goal is to maximise Muslim voter turnout, support candidates who support civil liberties, world peace, universal healthcare, better education, a fair immigration policy and social justice”. That is how most Americans think and that is not specific to Muslims. There are old policies to revamp and new ones to adopt and Mr Obama promises to do that for the American nation. Those who think that he would sacrifice any American interests at the global level are completely mistaken. (Daily Times)